Stories of the Day

I think and worry about this all the time, especially as I see all of the California license plates in the Phoenix area. “I fear that as California goes, so goes the nation. You think I’m being too alarmist there? The way it works is this: as California itself becomes bluer and bluer, more people who are dissatisfied leave the state. But strangely enough they bring their politics with them; people who find California’s business climate too liberal and migrate for that reason still tend to be liberal compared to the population in their new states. They don’t seem to connect liberalism with the decline of California, and they vote reliably Democratic in the more conservative states to which they migrate, turning those states ever bluer over time.” Calling all conservative Californians (no, that’s not an oxymoron)

They keep telling us that there’s no inflation, but those of us who do the grocery shopping know that this is a lie. “The opportunity is there to change the conversation. In so many of the areas where we’re seeing price inflation, government policy is contributing to the trendline, raising the costs not just of food, but of education, health care, energy, and housing, and putting pressure which multiplies for those with kids. All it takes is a willingness to go after those policies, and for a few smart politicians to start rejecting the priorities of the boardroom table in favor of the kitchen table.” Food Prices Are Soaring And Washington Doesn’t Care

Emphasis mine. “Unhappily, the combination of interests linked to immigration lawlessness — the progressives’ dependency agenda and the Chamber of Commerce’s self-interest — make this a very difficult battle to win. On the matter of illegal immigration, as on so many similar issues, we are effectively governed by criminals. But if we had half as much appreciation for the importance of national borders as do those who are illegally crossing them did, we would make this one of the top items on our national agenda. We may have compassion for the citizens of Mexico, but our duty is to the citizens of these United States. On Friday we had fireworks; on Monday, we require action.” Born on the Fifth of July: On the matter of illegal immigration, we are effectively governed by criminals.

The Left plays the blame game, while the border lies broken. “The massive crisis of tens of thousands of illegal children and hundreds of thousands of illegal adults flooding over our borders is, no surprise, not President Obama’s fault. It may have been entirely preventable, and certainly was highly predictable. But as usual, six years after he took office, the blame belongs elsewhere. It’s the Republicans, blocking immigration reform, the Obama administration wants you to believe. They’re even trying to hang it on Obama’s favorite blame target, George W. Bush, saying deportations are being slowed by a bipartisan 2008 law aimed at human trafficking — a claim none other than Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein says doesn’t hold water, while other critics note it’s a little thin, blaming a crisis now on a law that’s been around for six years. [Snip] Democrats — here and elsewhere — have been pushing for years to let people without Social Security numbers have driver’s licenses and welfare benefits. They’ve pushed for in-state university tuition for people who don’t belong here. Obama himself acted to dramatically reduce deportations — specifically of children — and has broadly signaled he wants to legalize the estimated 12 million illegals. Who can blame the hundreds of thousands flooding across our borders for thinking they are welcome? The Democrats told them so. Never mind that 92 million Americans are unemployed or no longer looking for jobs.” Adriana Cohen: Immigration mess grows as Obama plays blame game

The real reasons why they continue to come… “Four years ago, the Obama Justice Department sued the state of Arizona for daring to enforce federal immigration law, and sanctuary cities across the country remained unscathed. Two years ago, Obama declared that all illegal immigrants between the ages of 16 and 30 who had not committed criminal felonies — the so-called Dreamers — would remain in the country. This week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Arizona would have to hand out driver’s licenses to the Dreamers, and the city of Los Angeles announced it would no longer cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in holding requested illegals for 48 hours after their jail terms expired. Those desperate to come to America would be fools not to jump at the chance. And their dangerous decisions to send their own children across thousands of miles of desert in the company of likely drug cartel associates underscores their certainty: They’re willing to risk the lives of their children, knowing that so long as the children get to the border, Obama will legitimize them, and then, by extension, their entire families. This, of course, is precisely what Obama wanted them to think. Now he has his crisis. And he’ll exploit it for everything it’s worth, no matter how much blood is spilled in the deserts of Mexico or the streets of Murrieta.” Never Let a Self-Produced Horror Show Go to Waste

What’s coming, and if you don’t believe me, just look to what’s happened to my beloved state of California since the initial amnesty… “America’s gun violence problem is urban. It’s localized in Democratic enclaves. And it overlaps neatly with its corrupt political machines. It has nothing to do with the NRA and a great deal to do with the party of social engineering, the welfare state and gun bans. And illegal immigration. [Snip] If we want to repeat the same cycle again, Super-Amnesty, an amnesty several times bigger than the one in 1986, will make it happen. Entire cities will fall into gang violence. Their economies will collapse and that will have a ripple effect on their suburbs and on entire states. America will be a more dangerous and poorer place. And the politicians will talk some more about banning guns and about building more teen centers for the youth to hang out in between shootings.” Super-Amnesty Will Turn Every City into Detroit

Big Government

What will happen when only the public sector remains? “Life is hard. It’s harder still when an entire class of people with their hands out stands between you and success. Unfortunately, that’s increasingly the problem, all around the world. A recent New York Times piece tells the story of a Greek woman’s efforts to survive that country’s financial collapse. After losing her job, she tried to start a pastry business, only to find the regulatory environment impossible. Among other things, they wanted her to pay the business’s first two years of taxes up front, before it had taken in a cent. When the business failed, her lesson was this: ‘I, like thousands of others trying to start businesses, learned that I would be at the mercy of public employees who interpreted the laws so they could profit themselves.’” Bled dry by the New Class: Bureaucrats push pencils at the expense of real workers

“Guess we have to afford Obama’s lavish lifestyle somehow.” “While in the midst of a full-blown IRS scandal, what geniuses thought it might be a good idea to give another unaccountable federal agency the power to take your money? Why Barack Obama and his merry band of idiots at the EPA, that’s who. At what point will America have had enough?

The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly floated a rule claiming authority to bypass the courts and unilaterally garnish paychecks of those accused of violating its rules, a power currently used by agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service.

The Culture

“Sure, Hollywood is generally very liberal, but America isn’t. Judging by their campaign donations, Hollywood liberals are very supportive of abortion rights. But there’s a reason why sitcoms since Maude haven’t had a lot of storylines about abortion. Indeed, nearly every pregnant TV character treats her unborn child as if it’s already a human being. The Left may be anti-military, but such movies tend to do poorly, which is why we see more pro-military films. Similarly, it’s a safe bet that Hollywood liberals loathe guns. But you wouldn’t know that by what they produce. Not many action stars save the day by quoting a poem. Most Hollywood liberals probably oppose the death penalty, yet they make lots of movies where the bad guy meets a grisly death to the cheers of the audience. The Left rolls its eyes at “family values,” but family values are at the heart of most successful sitcoms and dramas.” Our Conservative Popular Culture: Does the Left really have a monopoly on storytelling today?

Foreign Policy

An explanation as to why there’s so much chaos in the Middle East. “The Obama administration conducted an assessment of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2010 and 2011, beginning even before the events known as the “Arab Spring” erupted in Tunisia and in Egypt. The President personally issued Presidential Study Directive 11 (PSD-11) in 2010, ordering an assessment of the Muslim Brotherhood and other “political Islamist” movements, including the ruling AKP in Turkey, ultimately concluding that the United States should shift from its longstanding policy of supporting “stability” in the Middle East and North Africa (that is, support for “stable regimes” even if they were authoritarian), to a policy of backing “moderate” Islamic political movements (italics added for emphasis throughout).’ And we have certainly witnessed this shift. Chaos and the Islamic ascendancy in the Middle East and North Africa never flourished as under the Obama administration—and precisely because the administration shifted from supporting stability under secular-minded autocrats.” Obama’s Secret Directive Supporting Global Islamism

Hillary Clinton

Questions the news media won’t ask. “What is her salary from the foundation? How much of her expenses are covered by family foundation money? How many members of her family make salaries from that foundation? To what extent is the foundation an income tax dodge? And didn’t Hillary Clinton recently portray herself as not truly rich because she and Bill pay income tax on their money?” Behind that “Hillary Clinton Says She’s Donated All University Speaking Fees” headline.

The Media

In a nutshell, this is what’s wrong with our fourth estate today. “Last week, conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt interviewed Zach Carter, who is The Huffington Post‘s senior political economy reporter. The interview’s purpose was to discuss Carter’s negative response to Hewitt’s previous interview of former Vice President Dick Cheney. The interview was lively and interesting but it did not go well for Carter, who was forced to admit his ignorance of the historical context of the situation in Iraq. Looked at one way, the interview might almost seem like pointless point-scoring. In response to Hewitt’s questions, Carter admitted he didn’t know who Alger Hiss was and that he hadn’t read The Looming Tower. Those two questions are standard questions for Hewitt’s interviews. But then Carter said he hadn’t read various other books, such as Bernard Lewis’ Crisis of Islam, Robin Wright’s Dreams and Shadows, or Thomas P. M. Barnett’s The Pentagon’s New Map. He said he hadn’t read Dexter Filkins’ The Forever War but that he’d “read a lot of the stuff that he’s written for The New Yorker.” Filkins joined The New Yorker in 2011. He said he does not read politician’s memoirs, including Cheney’s or George W. Bush’s. That he was unaware that Bill Clinton had bombed Iraq in 1998 or that Gadhafi had reportedly disarmed in 2003. He admitted he doesn’t know who A. Q. Khan, the father of the Pakistan bomb and godfather of Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs, is. It’s such a display of ignorance that it seems almost unfair. But looked at another way, it’s simply a good interview where Hewitt seeks to establish Carter’s background and breadth of knowledge in order to help listeners know on what basis he critiqued Cheney. My favorite line was when Carter was asked if he’d heard of George Weigel and he replied, “I’ve heard of Dave Weigel.” I don’t mean to pick on Carter, who was a good sport. If anything, I give him credit for sticking through the entire interview. But it speaks to a larger problem we face with our media, which is that they frequently are not well read and, more importantly, they do not realize it.” Media Ignorance Is Becoming A Serious Problem

“The leftist media is starting to feel the negative effects of its insincerity and bias. Instead of self-discipline and sticking to their duty to the public, they have allowed themselves to be seduced into competing with the goals and role of the government. Instead of objectively examining the causes of their shrinking viewership, they continue to impose their agenda to educate the public about what their of hope and change should be. Instead of reflecting what is going on in society so that the public can make informed decisions, they continue with their obsession of steering the public into their leftist agenda.” Are CNN and MSNBC Now Our Government?

The Republican Party

I think it’s called “Compassionate Conservatism.” “Amid heated talk on the right of deporting children back to strife-ridden failed states, the third world diseases they carry, and the fear of their ability to access protective and preventative medical services on taxpayer dollars, the conservative movement risks expanding the empathy gap among Hispanic and urban voters. [Glenn] Beck aims to close it.

“We’re going to fill some tractor-trailers with food, with water,” Beck said. “The churches have asked us if we could bring teddy bears and soccer balls, so we’ve loaded up a whole tractor-trailer of nothing but teddy bears and soccer balls. And then I’m going to go serve breakfast and lunch, and I’m going to help unload these trucks, hot meals for 3,000. That’s what we’re doing.”

Charity and kindness, asking nothing in return, can go a long way. The left’s solution to the immigration crisis is, as ever, the promise of government programs and a free ticket into a bureaucratic morass — none of which they can deliver for this cascade of Central American refugees. Conservatives can offer something better, something real, and Beck plans on doing just that. It is a small step, but a welcome one. The conservative movement needs a bigger tent, and addressing the perception that conservatives are hard-hearted will be a step in that direction. The good news is that this condition is merely perceived, not real, and it only takes a few gestures like the one Beck has embraced in order to bury it.” Glenn Beck, the border crisis, and the Republican Party’s empathy gap

The War on Women

I am sick of it too, but I fear that the single women that the Left is targeting for the propaganda are going to buy it hook, line and sinker. “A lot of women, me included, are sick of the ‘war on women,’” the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and California Republican candidate for U.S. Senate said. “And we saw it in spades on Monday after the Hobby Lobby case. The women of Hobby Lobby had access to contraception through their company insurance plan before Obamacare; they have access to contraception — 16 forms of it — after the ruling. But somehow, you know, this is the long arm of business and the Republican party reaching into the body of women. It’s ridiculous.” Carly Fiorina: ‘The War On Women Is Shameless, Baseless Propaganda’

We’ve got a terrific line up for our annual Christmas program. First up will be the Ignite Barbershop Quartet. Ignite began singing together after a quartet matching party in November 2015. They are all Champion members of Region 21’s Scottsdale Chorus and they will be singing for us!

After lunch, Congressional District 6 congressman, Representative David Schweikart, will talk to us about what’s happening in Washington DC, and provide us with a status of the Tax Bill working its way through the House of Representatives and Senate.

Finally, member Julia Graham will install our new 2018/2019 officers. We look forward to seeing you and be sure to bring a friend or two or three!